AFRICA 15/6/2004 14:20 UN AID CHIEF: IN THE 'KINGDOM OF THE KALASHNIKOV' PEOPLE ARE DYING OF HUNGER Peace/Justice, Standard âThe Kalashnikov is the atomic bomb of our time,â; ârape continues to be used as a brutal weapon of warâ; âthe civilian population is once again the target of massive abuseâ: Jan Egeland, UN undersecretary general and the world bodyâs emergency relief co-ordinator, did not mince his words in his presentation to UN Security Council last night. Ten million people in 20 war-torn countries have limited access to humanitarian aid; today, the most serious crisis concerns the east of Democratic Republic of Congo, for years the scene of a fierce conflict and which descended into violence once more just a few weeks ago following the insubordination of two officers who have been excluded from the new unified Congolese army. The fighting in south Kivu and especially in the Bukavu area is transforming the situation into a crisis of large proportions. Over three million civilians do not have access to vital humanitarian aid; these include hundreds of thousands of children. Meanwhile, another humanitarian catastrophe is playing out in Darfur (western Sudan), in another âkingdom of the kalashnikovâ where Arab militias are waging a campaign against the black African civilian population described by some â including some UN officials â as âethnic cleansingâ. âIt is a race against the clock there as well,â the Norwegian official told the representatives of the 15 members of the Security Council. Egeland also stigmatized the widespread use of violence against women and girls. His practice is common not just in Congo, said the UN humanitarian chief, but also in Liberia, north Uganda (from where in October last year he strongly criticised the inertia displayed by the international community regarding that âforgotten warâ), Ivory Coast, Haiti, and again in Darfur. However, it is to Congo that Egeland draws the attention of ambassadors and diplomats in New York: despite the presence of almost 11,000 UN troops in ex Zaire â one of the most costly peacekeeping missions in the world â around 130 aid workers have been relocated from numerous areas to Goma, capital of North Kivu, âleaving hundreds of thousands of people without food, medical assistance, water or sanitary productsâ. In an interview with the British news agency âReutersâ before the Council meeting, Egeland explained that âthere has been a marked deterioration since Bukavu fell (into the hands of the renegade soldiers, before being retaken by the regular army, ed.) and it has been spreading. The world has not understood how deep the crisis has become and what is at stakeâ. He concluded: âThe age of impunity has been ending in other parts of the world and one day it will also end in the DRC.â The only hope in this sense comes from the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo: some of the presumed authors of these crimes against humanity already appear in the dossier on ex Zaire open at The Hague. Before long â after careful investigations â they will have to answer to the charges against them. (Translation of an article by Emiliano Bos)[LC] N¬±êï‰Ç²,µçhžØ^"wèr‰§zÜ(®Hm¶Ÿÿà "ú ¢g(º
